


Of Cookies and Twisted Matchmaking

by Diary



Category: Scandal (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Awkward Conversations, Bechdel Test Fail, Canon Character of Color, Canon Gay Character, Canon Queer Character, Confrontations, Dark Character, Disturbing Themes, Gen, Late Night Conversations, M/M, Off-screen Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-06
Updated: 2016-05-06
Packaged: 2018-06-06 17:01:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6762517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Diary/pseuds/Diary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. Cyrus finds out something about Tom, Tom goes after Charlie's cookies, and Fitz might be the only one to show true compassion and rationality in the whole bunch. Complete.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Cookies and Twisted Matchmaking

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Scandal.

Storming through, Cyrus yells, “Tom, the Oval, now!”

When Cyrus bursts in with Tom following behind him, Fitz starts, “Cyrus-”

Shutting the door, Cyrus declares, “He’s been sleeping with Daniel Douglas Langston!”

“What?” Looking helplessly at Tom, Fitz orders, “Cyrus, calm down and tell me who is sleeping with Daniel Douglas and why this concerns me. Or Tom, for that matter.”

Cyrus waves his finger at Tom. “Him. Your secret service agent has been sleeping with Daniel Douglas. Oh, yeah, in case you weren’t up to speed: Douglas is a closet case. Who is no doubt getting information about you for Sally from Tom!”

“I would never give classified information or information that could otherwise compromise the President.”

“No, of course not,” Fitz assures him. “Tom, wait outside. Cyrus and I need to-”

“Is this not getting through,” Cyrus demands. “How long have you been sleeping with him, Tom?”

Tom takes a breath.

“Cyrus-”

“You’re asking questions you have no right to ask, sir,” Tom quietly says.

Fitz gives him a sympathetic look. “Cyrus,” he firmly says, “Tom is right. Whoever he is or isn’t sleeping with is absolutely none of our damn business.”

“He’s sleeping with the husband of your running opponent!”

“Cyrus!”

Laughing, Cyrus takes another deep breath. “Mr President, I need you to shove your liberal, live-and-let-live mindset to the very back. Unless it was on orders from you, in which case, why wasn’t I told, sir, why else would he be sleeping with Daniel Douglas?”

Tom takes a breath. “You know something, Mr Beene. You’re just so outraged you haven’t taken the time to think about what you know, and you’re saying things that, respectfully, sir, make little-to-no sense. If you want to check my bank account and have my communications seized, I can’t stop you. I have not compromised the President in any way. As for what you know, however, I will not answer.”

“Right,” Fitz says. “Tom, leave.”

“Wait. Don’t ask, don’t tell doesn’t apply here,” Cyrus points out.

“I don’t care,” Tom says. “If you want to bring me down, I can’t stop you. I won’t help you along, however. People knowing things about you has turned out okay, sir. You’re an- intellectual. My job is much more physical in nature. I don’t have a choice but to occasionally change around similarly attired men. If everyone knew certain things about me, I could get in trouble the first time I was forced to use physical force to subdue a suspect or needed to bodily shield whoever’s detail I’m on. I could get accused of creating a hostile workplace.”

Cyrus stares.

“Leave, Tom,” Fitz repeats.

Tom does.

…

“Mr President.”

Sighing, Fitz gets up from his desk and goes to sit on the couch. “Sit down, Tom.”

“Sir-” Tom hesitates.

“Sit down,” Fitz repeats.

Taking the couch opposite him, Tom does.

“I’m not defending what Cyrus did. It was wrong in many different ways. I am asking you to remember that he did recently lose his husband. And that it wasn’t much of a secret he and James were having a lot of problems shortly before the carjacking happened.” Shaking his head, Fitz continues, “Now, if you want to stay, I want that, too. You’re one of the best agents I have, and what happened earlier doesn’t change my view of you as an agent or as person. I’ve made sure Cyrus is never going to doing something like earlier again. But if this is still going to cause problems between you and him-”

“Sir, if Mr Beene will leave it alone, I’m more-than-willing to do the same.”

“He will,” Fitz promises. “I truly am sorry for what happened earlier.”

Tom nods. “Thank you, sir.”

Fitz hesitates. “I won’t bring it up, again, but I feel compelled to say: I hope you know what you’re doing, Tom. My circumstances and yours are vastly different, but there are some similarities. Hiding is one thing. It could hurt you and the other person, but it’s only one thing. When marriage comes into the mix- I hope you truly understand what you’re getting yourself into.”

He stands.

Following suit, Tom is quiet for a few seconds. “I don’t love him. Mr Langston isn’t like you, sir. He’d never leave his wife. It’s my job to die to protect her, if necessary, and I would, because I do believe in the importance my job has towards the country, but I don’t like her or most of her policies. I never have. I know what I’m doing, sir.”

Giving him a sympathetic smile, Fitz nods. “That’ll be all, Tom.”

“Thank you, sir.”

…

Seeing Cyrus sitting near the keypad employees use to clock in and out, Tom shakes his head. “Sir.”

“Just because the President tore me a new one, this does not mean I’m through. Sign out. Then, you and I are going to have a nice, long discussion.”

…

Sitting down, Tom watches Cyrus pace.

Finally, Cyrus says, “You aren’t the only one. There was another man.”

Shrugging slightly, Tom says, “I don’t know how you found about him, sir, but if he weren’t the only one for me, it doesn’t seem as if you’d found about anyone else.”

Cyrus stares.

“I’m thirty-nine. I was thirty-six when I took this job. Before that, I spent eight years in the navy. And before that, it was military school and basic training. I’ve never quite understood relationships. Never wanted one. Now, if I weren’t different, no one would care about me going to a bar, buying some woman a drink, and leaving her in the morning. I could do that every night if I wanted to. I am different, though. If Daniel Douglas Langston wants to risk getting caught with some man, then, hopefully, he’ll have the decency to not drag any other men down with him.”

“Oh.” Cyrus sits down. “You don’t drink.”

Tilting his head, Tom says, “Since you’re smart enough to realise a person doesn’t have to drink to buy someone else one, I really hope you aren’t implying something bad about me, sir. I’d never sexually take advantage of an incapacitated person. Or any person. If one drink made-”

“What? No! I’m not suggesting anything like that. I was honestly just surprised by you mentioning a bar.”

“It’d probably be my best bet,” Tom points out.

“True.”

Cyrus rubs his head.

“Sir?”

“So. You’re smart enough to not have feelings for him. I still would have expected better from you, Tom. You think it was easy for me or James?”

“I never said that, sir. I got a glimpse of how hard it was for you. I don’t know much at all about Mr Novak, but I doubt it was always easy for him. We all live in the same world. Or I’m sorry, sir, lived. However, I stand by what I said. Almost anything can be forgiven for the sake of intelligence or creativity. You were married. You and your husband had a baby together.”

“For someone who doesn’t want those things- I love my job, and I’m proud to do it, but in all honesty, a ‘well-trained grunt’ could be used to describe me. I take the hits when necessary to ensure my President or someone else doesn’t, and the rest of the time, I stand and blend into the background. At the end of the day, I sometimes just want to relax by doing things others would try to demean me for. I’m always safe, and I’m always honest with anyone I’m with before anything ever happens. That should be enough, but it isn’t, and unlike you and President Grant, I’ve never been one to fight for change. I adapt to my circumstances as best I can.”

Sighing, Cyrus plaintively asks, “But why, for the love of God, him?”

“Why not? Objectively, Daniel Douglas is a handsome man. Whatever your personal dislike for him, do you really find it so hard to believe he could make someone feel good? If his wife were ignorant of what he is, maybe you wouldn’t know what you know now, but they understand one another. He’s like me, he adapts to his circumstances, and she’s like you and President Grant, she fights for change. Like you and him, she occasionally accepts things she’d rather not in order to focus her fight on things she deems more important.”

There’s silence.

“This is done,” Cyrus declares. “But I swear, if your pillow talk ever causes problems for this administration, I will bury you, Tom. You wouldn’t be the first closeted person I’ve gone after.”

“Understood, sir.”

Cyrus waves his hand. “That will be all.”

…

In the Acme Paper building, Charlie looks up from his plate of cookies. “Oh, hey, Golden Retriever. What brings you here?”

Tom kicks the plate out of Charlie’s hands, and it lands with a thud on the floor.

“What the hell?” Charlie scrambles to grab the cookies. “One of our KGB contacts made these, man.” Dumping them on the couch, he moves closer to Tom. “You gotta a problem with me, don’t take it out on my-”

“What’s going on- Tom,” Rowan says. “It’s surprising to see you here. Is everything okay? I think there’s still some honey bars left. Or of course, you’re always welcome to- Charlie, why are there cookies on the couch? Why is your plate on the floor?”

“Hey, blame him, not me, boss,” Charlie quickly says. “He kicked them out of my hand.”

“Tom?”

“Charlie gave information to Cyrus Beene about me.” He hesitates. “About me sleeping with Senator Langston’s husband.”

Rowan blinks. “Are you?”

Tom swallows. “Yes, sir.”

“And? Charlie?”

“I had my reasons. If he’d bothered to ask instead of threatening my food-” He glares.

“I’m listening, now,” Tom says.

“So am I,” Rowan says.

“Hey, Cyrus wanted Daniel Douglas dead. He was willing to pay more than he ever has before.” Poking Tom, he says, “I did you a favour. I thought you might not like that, and so, I convinced him that he could use this in the future. You’re welcome.”

“Charlie, next time, talk to Tom before you do something like this. And, Tom, don’t waste food. If it were anyone but Charlie, those cookies would go into the trash. Now, can you handle Cyrus, Tom, or do I need to do damage control for you?”

“No, sir,” Tom answers. “He’s already been handled. If I need to do more in the future, I will.”

“Alright, then. Now, unless you want to see about those honey bars or choose some of the other desserts, I suggest you leave. Charlie, pick up that plate and enjoy those cookies. You’re not getting any more tonight.”

Charlie quietly moans.

Nodding, Tom walks out.

Checking to make sure he’s gone, Rowan says, “Tell me the real reason.” At Charlie’s look, he adds, “After what Daniel Douglas did with James Novak, I have no doubt Cyrus did place a tempting price on his head. Now, tell me the real reason you turned it down and did this.”

“Just trying to help you, boss. And maybe him and the chief, too. He doesn’t know Tom’s B6-13, and he’s lonely and numb. In some ways, knowing this makes the golden retriever even more trustworthy to him. Now, imagine if you had a B6-13 agent in his bed.”

“Hm. That would be very helpful,” Rowan acknowledges. “And of course, Cyrus would be lucky to have someone like Tom. But where exactly does you thinking you’re doing Tom any sort of favour come in?”

“C’mon, boss, a genuine good ole boy like Daniel Douglas? Aside from being warm and well-fed, he has no ambition. He props up his wife and helps keep their kid’s antics out of the press. I’ll be the first to say I’m not besties with the golden retriever, but even I know he deserves better than that. The chief is a leader. He’s mean, cunning, and powerful, but he usually treats the people he likes well. Tommy boy craves someone like that.”

“And I assume you have an actual plan? You didn’t just leak this and hope everything would suddenly fall into place?”

“No, of course not.” Charlie picks up the plate, loads the cookies back on, and takes a bite out of one. “This was just the first step: Planting the seed that Tom is an option. Second step is…”


End file.
